Touchpad Sucks: Why Automakers Refuse In-Car Touch Keys
- June 24, 2023
- 0
Over the past ten years, touch screens have replaced absolutely all controls for car comfort options: the radio recorder “fell” first, then the “stove” and air conditioner gave
Over the past ten years, touch screens have replaced absolutely all controls for car comfort options: the radio recorder “fell” first, then the “stove” and air conditioner gave up, and then all other options moved “on the road”. screen”. Fashionable, beautiful, modern! But it turned out to be damn tricky, as the car manufacturers themselves began to talk.
Recently, Volkswagen boss Thomas Schaefer publicly admitted that the touch keys are a fad. In an interview with British Autocar, Mr Schaefer said the steering wheel “touchpads” installed on the VW Golf since 2019 caused a wave of criticism and outrage from owners, literally forcing the company to reconsider its design decision.
And this is perhaps the first sign of a new trend in the automotive world: first the most expensive, premium, and later more budget segments will return to their original “twists”. Because it is more convenient.
Touch screens that respond to touch are considered a tribute to fashion and the desire to make the car more technologically advanced. No one thought about ease of use and comfort – the image is everything to us. However, there is an alternative opinion, which looks a bit more thorough, to say the least, than blindly following fashion trends. Looks more fundamental, clearer from a business point of view.
The fact is, over time, touch screens have become so cheap to manufacture that it was more expensive to install an old-fashioned twister. The price of mechanics was higher than electronics, and car manufacturers had to do something about it, because cutting costs is making a profit. So everything that is possible began to turn into touchscreens: music, climate, dashboard and much, much more. And finally they reached the “bottom”: the consumer demanded to return to the interior of the comfort of the car, driven by technology in the far corner. Do you know what is most interesting? Will return!
Only at the beginning will the most expensive cars undergo the “reverse process”: future customers will be sold the absence of screens, tactile sensations, ease of installation, good old mechanics as in childhood, like their parents, simple and understandable, and that is not so all. Then the keys and levers return to business and the middle class.
But the budget segments may remain with uncomfortable touch screens – people need to be constantly nudged towards financial growth and buying a decent car. And then comes the turn of LADA and UAZ: finally in Russia they will begin mass assembly of premium cars that do not have “these screens”, but convenient and functional analog controls for comfort options! Let’s live here!
Manufacturer’s photo.
Recently, Volkswagen boss Thomas Schaefer publicly admitted that the touch keys are a fad. In an interview with British Autocar, Mr Schaefer said the steering wheel “touchpads” installed on the VW Golf since 2019 caused a wave of criticism and outrage from owners, literally forcing the company to reconsider its design decision.
And this is perhaps the first sign of a new trend in the automotive world: first the most expensive, premium, and later more budget segments will return to their original “twists”. Because it is more convenient.
Touch screens that respond to touch are considered a tribute to fashion and the desire to make the car more technologically advanced. No one thought about ease of use and comfort – the image is everything to us. However, there is an alternative opinion, which looks a bit more thorough, to say the least, than blindly following fashion trends. Looks more fundamental, clearer from a business point of view.
The fact is, over time, touch screens have become so cheap to manufacture that it was more expensive to install an old-fashioned twister. The price of mechanics was higher than electronics, and car manufacturers had to do something about it, because cutting costs is making a profit. So everything that is possible began to turn into touchscreens: music, climate, dashboard and much, much more. And finally they reached the “bottom”: the consumer demanded to return to the interior of the comfort of the car, driven by technology in the far corner. Do you know what is most interesting? Will return!
Only at the beginning will the most expensive cars undergo the “reverse process”: future customers will be sold the absence of screens, tactile sensations, ease of installation, good old mechanics as in childhood, like their parents, simple and understandable, and that is not so all. Then the keys and levers return to business and the middle class.
But the budget segments may remain with uncomfortable touch screens – people need to be constantly nudged towards financial growth and buying a decent car. And then comes the turn of LADA and UAZ: finally in Russia they will begin mass assembly of premium cars that do not have “these screens”, but convenient and functional analog controls for comfort options! Let’s live here!
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
